Cougars earn three top WCC awards, nine on All-WCC Teams

SAN BRUNO, Calif. – Following a fifth-straight West Coast Conference championship, BYU softball received three top awards in addition to nine All-WCC players, the conference announced Tuesday.

The WCC Freshman of the Year in 2017, Rylee Jensen earned WCC Player of the Year this season. Bridget Fleener won BYU’s second-consecutive WCC Freshman of the Year award. Kerisa Viramontes earned WCC Pitcher of the Year, along with Loyola Marymount’s Hannah Bandimere.

In addition to the top honors, four Cougars were named to the All-WCC First Team: Fleener, Jensen, Libby Sugg and Lexi Tarrow. On the All-WCC Second Team, Autumn Moffat, Alexa Strid and Viramontes received nods. Briielle Breland and Madison Merrell were on the All-WCC Honorable Mention list.

Jensen is the fourth-straight Cougar to earn the WCC’s top honor after teammate Caitlyn Alldredge was selected last year, Ashley Thompson in 2016 and Gordy Bravo in 2015. In league contests, Jensen led the conference in runs scored (18), walks (11) and on-base percentage (.608) en route to claiming the conference’s top honor. Additionally, the sophomore outfielder finished second in the league in batting average at .474 with her 18 hits tops for the Cougars and good for third in the league for the championship team.

Viramontes makes it four-consecutive seasons that a BYU Cougar has won the Pitcher of the Year honor after former teammate McKenna Bull took home the honors from 2015-17. The sophomore was the league-leader in conference games with nine wins and two shutouts. She finished second in complete games (5) and strikeouts (43) while earning a 1.37 ERA, good for third in the league after pitching 46 innings.

Fleener is the second-straight Cougar to be named the WCC Freshman of the Year after a season that saw her lead the league in batting average (.500) and slugging percentage (.765). The utility player becomes the third freshman to lead the West Coast Conference in batting average, following fellow Cougars Rylee Jensen (2017, .452) and Lauren Bell (2014, .395). In addition, she is just the third overall student-athlete to finish a league season with a batting average at or above .500.

All five major awards – along with the All-West Coast Conference Teams – were voted on by the league's six head coaches. A total of 22 student-athletes make up the first and second teams, including eight outfielders by position, seven infielders, five pitchers and two catchers.

Head to the WCC website to read the entire release.

All-WCC Major Individual Awards
WCC Player of the Year	Rylee Jensen, BYU
WCC Co-Pitcher of the Year	Kerisa Viramontes, BYU & Hannah Bandimere, LMU
WCC Defensive Player of the Year	Maddison Flores, LMU
WCC Freshman of the Year	Bridget Fleener, BYU
WCC Coach of the Year	Sami Strinz-Ward, LMU

First Team All-WCC
Name	Yr.	Pos.	School
Hannah Bandimere	Jr.	P	LMU
Alicia Brown	Sr.	OF	LMU
Bridget Fleener	Fr.	UTL	BYU
Rylee Jensen	So.	OF	BYU
Sydney Lahners	Sr.	1B	Pacific
Samantha Owen	So.	OF	Pacific
Hannah Russell	So.	C	Santa Clara
Talli Shepherd	Fr.	2B	Pacific
Taylor Spence	Jr.	OF	San Diego
Libby Sugg	Jr.	C	BYU
Lexi Tarrow	Jr.	OF	BYU

Second Team All-WCC
Name	Yr.	Pos.	School
Andrea Gonzales	Fr.	3B	LMU
Maddison Flores	Fr.	2B	LMU
Aubree Kim	So.	P	Santa Clara
Autumn Moffat	Fr.	P	BYU
Hailey Reed	So.	OF	Pacific
Hailey Sparacino	Sr.	SS	Saint Mary's
Alexa Strid	Sr.	SS	BYU
Sabrina Tebou	Sr.	OF	LMU
Kerisa Viramontes	So.	P	BYU
Marissa Young	Sr.	P	Pacific
Kimiko Zapanta	Fr.	OF	Saint Mary's

Honorable Mention:
Briielle Breland, BYU; Madison Casiano, San Diego; Lindsay Clare, San Diego; Ellie Fisher, Santa Clara; Molly Grumbo, Loyola Marymount; Delaney Heller, San Diego; Kailey Hill, San Diego; Abbey Mariani, Saint Mary’s; Madison Merrell, BYU; Eleni Spirakis, Santa Clara; Linnay Wilson, Loyola Marymount; Delanie Wisz, Loyola Marymount